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The Times Advocate, 2004-11-17, Page 66 Exeter Times–Advocate Wednesday, November 17, 2004 Opinion Forum News Seniors' perspective Continued from page 5 eral preventative medicine. However, these advances have created potential financial problems for many patients who survive major illnesses and surgery. We are living longer, but often surviving with major health problems. At the same time, many provincial and employer-sponsored plans on which most of us have depended are paring down their coverage in an effort to control overall costs. Long Term Care can be defined as "a range of nursing and social services for people who need ongoing assistance." LTC insurance" is a product designed to provide the financial resources to cover their cost for people who require daily assistance with the "activities of daily living" as a result of sig- nificant cognitive impairment or physical incapacity. LTC policies are of two major types: one will pay a maximum fixed dollar for each week or month you receive covered services, and the other type will reimburse you (up to a preset maximum) for eligible expenses you incur. LTC insurance, like other types of insurance, can only be obtained prior to the onset of health prob- lems, and is priced based upon the age at which you apply for the coverage. Unlike traditional disability insurance, which insures your income needs before you retire, LTC insurance does not replace lost salary, but rather provides financial support to assist you to maintain your quality of life no matter at what age you become incapacitated through providing funds for care in your home or when remaining in your home is no longer possible, for care in a long- term care facility. Critical illness insurance helps people meet the one- time, transitional costs or short term, recuperative costs associated with surviving a critical illness. Depending on the insurer, the illnesses covered may include heart attack, stroke, coronary bypass, cancer, multiple sclerosis, kidney failure, major organ trans- plant, paralysis, blindness, and other specified illness- es. CI insurance will provide the insured with a lump sum cash benefit to be spent however the person chooses. Common applications for such funds include repaying a mortgage, renovations to a home to accom- modate medical needs, purchasing assistive devices, defraying the costs of alternative or complementary medical treatment, and paying for additional nursing or home care not covered under provincial or employ- er plans. The cost of CI and LTC insurance varies depending on the amounts you select, your age, health and other medical and lifestyle factors. Your professional insur- ance advisor can help in designing affordable coverage for you. No insurance policy can replace lost health, but obtaining coverage for statistically probable events is a prudent strategy for preserving your financial indepen- dence. New reading material: OMAF Fact Sheet: What rural neighbours can expect from large livestock operations. Information is in the foyer at the Municipal Office, Exeter. Poppy coin questioned Dear tor: The following is an excerpt from the press release of the Royal Canadian Mint: "Beginning on October 21, 2004, the new poppy coin (was made) available from Tim Horton's locations across Canada. Tim Horton's, a distinc- tive Canadian enterprise, is the Mint's exclu- sive partner for the poppy coin. Because coins are pro- duced to meet demand, poppy coins will also be avail- able at financial institutions in the months following the coins unveil." My question is why is one business — an American owned business — chosen to be the only distributors of this coin? Remembrance Day is a time to give thanks to our brave men and women who fought and died for us all. How can you associate it with this coin by increasing business for Tim Horton's, which it is doing? Not only are you unable to purchase the new coin at Tim Horton's, but you also must purchase a Tim Horton's product and you must be owed the correct change to acquire the new coin. I have a problem when a U.S. owned company not only controls the distribution and handling of a very special issue of our Canadian currency, but also sets unreasonable rules. It certainly makes you wonder about the ethics of Tim Horton's and our Canadian government. RUTH ANN HAIST, RR 2, Centralia Library is not closing Dear Editor: Thank you for the story in your edition of Nov. 10, "Huron County Library launches Unicorn system." Unfortunately, the computer software is not ready for the Huron County Library to use and I have decid- ed to postpone the migration to Unicorn due to take place Nov. 18-25. We hope that people will under- stand that it is better to introduce a new system that works at a later date, rather than follow a schedule which will not provide the product we anticipated. All libraries in Huron County will now be open their regular hours right through November. When we finally install Unicorn, library users will be able to simultaneously search the library cata- logue, other databases and catalogues of other public libraries. The new catalogue will provide user-friend- ly access through the library's Web page. With the new catalogue, you will be able to renew books and place holds, check your account, personalize your Web page and even register your favourite authors so the catalogue will notify you of new books that meet your profile. New features will include simpler and more intuitive catalogue searches, bestseller and prizewinning lists, colour book jackets and book reviews. We anticipate that we will migrate to the new soft- ware sometime in January or February of 2005. There will be a week-long shutdown during this time for data transfer and staff training. We will publicize the shut- down as soon as we know so that people can stock up on books, CDs, DVDs> and other library materials to tide them over the temporary closings. BETH Ross, Huron County Librarian Panther Profile EXETER — This week at South Huron was the Operation Christmas Child Shoebox Campaign. Students who brought in a shoebox for the campaign were given a slip for a hockey buyout. About 380 shoebox- es were collected this year. Excellent job South Huron! The Remembrance Day Assembly was held on Thursday and many stu- dents participated. There was a skit performed by Ms. McClennan's stu- dents, the choir performed a few songs, the senior concert band played a few songs, as well as the Legion members coming in and helping us in the assembly. Having the Legion members come is an important part of the assembly, seeing as they can remember war, while we are far too young to try to. They helped us appreciate what soldiers actually did for us, when we take their sacrifices for granted. This week is Grad Photo Week, so graduates can make an appointment and then have their picture taken on the stage of the large gym. Yearbooks can also be picked up, and any students who haven't paid their Student Fees yet need to do so. Coming events: Wed., Nov. 17: Girls' basketball at St. Mike's; Boys' hockey in Strathroy, bus leaves at 1:20 p.m. Thurs., Nov. 18: Girls' hockey at home against SCSS at 2 p.m. Fri., Nov. 19: Boy's WOSSA "AA" Volleyball at South Huron. Sun., Nov. 21: Pops Concert in the large gym, 2 p.m. Mon., Nov. 22: First Semester report cards go home. Thurs., Nov. 25: Community Forum — Suicide and Self -Harm Awareness, 7 p.m., in the library. rA AMANDA ZEHR PANTHER PROFILE Principal's message EXETER — At the community forum hosted by the SHDHS School Council last April, we asked parents to provide us with suggestions for topics for par- ent forums to be held this year. A number of parents indicated that they wanted more information on depression, self -injury and suicide. Of particular concern was the practice of "cutting." In response to these sugges- tions, the School Council is hosting a forum entitled "Suicide and Self -Harm Awareness" on Thurs., Nov. 25. The forum will take place at 7 p.m. in the SHDHS library. We have invited a representative from the Canadian Mental Health Association, as well as B J Thom of Safe in Canada. Safe in Canada is a volunteer agency based in London that specializes in cases of self- abuse. Each of the two organizations also has a Web site JEFF REABURN PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE for further information: www.cmha.ca and www.safeincanada.ca. This forum should provide parents with an excellent opportunity to find out more about the causes of various forms of self-abuse and suicide, which are serious concerns for teenagers and adults alike. We encourage parents and community members to consider attending this session. Last Monday's snowfall served as a reminder to me that it is time to provide parents and students with information about bus and school cancellations due to inclement weather. The decision to cancel the buses is made after consultation between the bus contractors and the school principals, usually between 6 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. When Mother Nature co-operates, we are able to notify the radio stations and post the informa- tion on school Web sites by 7 a.m. However, in the last couple of years we have had several cases where the weather deteriorated significantly after 7 a.m., causing us to cancel the buses far later in the morning than we would like. We recognize that late cancellations cause significant problems for parents, particularly for parents with young children for whom child-care arrangements must be made. Our primary concern, however, is the safety of the students and if the conditions change, we may have to cancel the buses later than we would like. Last year, for example, we had several situations where it appeared that the buses would run, only to have conditions worsen as the bus drivers headed out on their routes. When the drivers advise us that the roads are not safe, then we choose to err on the side of caution and cancel the buses. Bus announcements for the South Huron family of schools (SHDHS, Exeter Public, Hensall Public, Mount Carmel, Precious Blood, St. Boniface, Stephen Central, Usborne Central and Zurich Public) are phoned in to CFPL Radio AM 980 and CKNX FM 102. While other radio stations may pick up and announce the informa- tion also, I contact only these two radio stations directly. Parents and students should listen to either of these two stations for the most accurate and up-to-date informa- tion. Unfortunately, we have little control over how early and how frequently the announcements are made. The radio stations are my first contacts, but immedi- ately thereafter the bus information is e-mailed to the SHDHS and Avon Maitland Web sites. As long as we don't have a computer or power failure (which hap- pened once last year), these two Web sites will provide accurate and up-to-date information also. The Avon Maitland Web site is www.yourschools.ca, and it pro- vides links to both the weather cancellations and the SHDHS Web site. The information also gets posted on the NewPL and NewNX Web sites, but last year it seemed to take con- siderable time for the information to be posted, and on at least one occasion, the information was not posted at all. It would be best to listen to the radio or check out the school or school board Web sites instead. I have an important request for parents on snow days: please encourage your kids not to phone the school and ask about the status of the buses. If they haven't heard anything on the radio, then it likely means the buses are running When there is some question about the weather, we need to have the phone lines open in order to remain in contact with the bus contractors, the school board office and the other schools. If we are receiving a high volume of calls from students, it may prevent us from getting important information in a timely manner. When the buses are cancelled, the elementary schools are usually closed, and while South Huron stays open officially, regular classes are cancelled. The school is available for study purposes and for extra help, but when the weather is bad enough to cancel the buses, many members of our staff are not able to safely reach the school. I will usually have it announced that the school is open for staff and stu- dents who can safely get there. One other issue that often comes up is what we do if a snow storm develops during the day after the students have arrived at school. In such cases our board policy is to keep the students at school until we can safely get them home. Obviously, if the weather is so bad that offi- cials are considering closing the highways, then it is not safe to send students out on the buses. The road crews expect buses to be on the roads at certain times of the day and they do their best to ensure that the roads are cleared at the time of our bus departures. If we send them home early, then the road crews may not have adequate time to get the roads cleared. Bus cancellations and school closure decisions are not made lightly. Our number one concern in all cases is student safety, and this means on occasion we may cancel the buses only to have the weather clear up. I am willing to take the chance of looking foolish rather than risk the lives of our students. So, unlike many of our students, it would suit me just fine if we didn't have any snow days this year. I think we had at least two years' worth last year.